Brad Feld of Ask the VC and Tech Stars (as well as a few other things that we’ll get into shortly) stopped for a moment to answer a few of our questions about all the things he’s up to, what it takes to be a great entrepeneur, greatest misconceptions people have about VCs, and the last time he was in awe of anything.
If you follow web industry news on sites like Tech Crunch, GigaOm, or even the more VC-centric sites like alarm:clock or Venture Beat then you may have heard of Brad Feld before.
If not, then you have certaintly heard of products like FeedBurner, NewsGator, or maybe even a small blog search site called Technorati - all of which find themselves in the portfolio of either Mobius Venture Capital or Foundry Group where Brad acts as Managing Director on both investment firms (oh, and he co-founded both of those as well).
A few months ago Brad and a few friends created “Ask The VC” which is now a must read for any entrepeneur (or wanna be VCs). Brad and the team offer up a gold mine of free advice you’d expect from an fully invested resource. For the most part, the format is Q&A allowing users to ask questions on just about anything VC related - Do All VCs Have Degrees From Top Schools? Should entrepreneurs avoid examining patents? How do you plan for M&A? And then you may find yourself asking what the hell is “M&A” like I did, and you start learning the ins and outs of the enigmatic world of venture capitalism (well, atleast for those on the outside). Want to know how VC works? Just watch the video. Get my point? I can’t even imagine the number of questions (and most likely redudnant questions) Brad and his peers are receving each day. Ask The VC is exactly what the doctored order, especially right now when VC funding seems to be booming.
A new venture Brad has created for himself is Tech Stars - a startup incubator in the same vein as Paul Graham’s YCombinator. The goal of Tech Stars is to select a handful of applicants with the best and brightest ideas, and provide them with the financial and professional support to build out their ideas in the hopes of getting funded. Not bad right?
I’m not sure where Brad finds the time or the energy to keep the engine truckin’ along, but he did find the time to answer a few of my questions. Thanks Brad and good luck!
Name, age, the last great thing that placed you in awe, and when you sleep at night you dream about?
Brad Feld, 41. I live in Boulder, Colorado and am regularly in awe of the beauty of planet earth and my overall insignificance to the universe which is reinforced from 9000 ft up an hour into a run on a trail in the mountains. At night, I dream complex, vibrant, chaotic dreams full of people I know and things I’ve recently been involved in.
Who is Brad Feld?
I’m a Boulder-based venture capitalist who started out his career as an entrepreneur. I started my first company when I was in college, sold it to a public company in 1993, and started investing in early stage technology companies shortly after that.
“Ask The VC” is an q&a/educational blog focused on providing entrepreneurs knowledge about everything VC related. I’m assuming you conceptualized the idea after countless emails/requests about the same exact thing. But forget my assumptions - Where did the idea come about, where/when? And how many people does it take to support the ATVC blog?
You got it exactly correct. I’ve been writing extensively about venture capital and the VC / entrepreneur process on my Feld Thoughts blog (www.feld.com). At some point, I realized I was getting enough interesting questions that it’d be fun to start a blog to simply answer them. That was the source of AsktheVC.
Greatest lesson ever learned (either personal or business)?
Failure is part of the process.
If you could give an entrepreneur one piece of advice, what would it be?
Do something you love.
What characteristics make a good entrepreneurial candidate? What makes a great one?
I’m not going to try to distinguish between “good” and “great.” Great entrepreneurs need to have vision, passion, charisma, and a desire to build something successful from scratch.
Let’s discuss TechStars. Just like Paul Graham’s YCombinator idea, TechStars attempts to find the best entrepreneurial ideas, provide amazing resources (legal, business, life, etc) to those accepted, and offers a small amount of money in exchange for a percentage stake in the company. Why bother (from either side)?
First of all, we think it’s going to be a blast. What could be more fun that working in the middle of 10 companies (20 to 30 entrepreneurs) trying to get companies started from scratch in a concentrated environment for three months. We’ve rented great space and will have everyone in one place. We have put together fantastic mentors (over 40 at this point) who will spend meaningful time with the entrepreneurs. We have regular events and will work hard to make sure everyone gets to know and work with anyone they want access to. So - for a startup entrepreneur - especially someone who is doing it for the first time, we think it’s a potentially life changing experience. Worst case, you get to spend three months in one of the greatest towns in the US (Boulder) working with a bunch of super smart and high energy people for the summer.
The 37Signals guys wrote a book called Getting Real, and in that they suggest “Fund Yourself” - in fact they have an entire chapter about the topic (http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch02_Fund_Yourself.php). What are your thoughts to that type of advice?
Funding yourself is an awesome strategy. We did that in my first company - we raised $10 (all that we had). Ten bucks (not $10,000). We were able to build a profitable (we had to be) 20 person company that had a very successful exit. It’s a different path than raising VC money, but it’s a good one if you are willing to be a bootstrapper.
Out of all the trends on the web today (video, semantic web, etc), what are you paying most attention to and where do you see the greatest potential?
We are spending a lot of time on a theme we call the “Implicit Web” which is linked to the academic work around the semantic web. My computing infrastructure is very stupid - I want it to figure out what I like, don’t like, trust, and want based on my actions.
Is the web in a bubble?
“Bubble” is an overused and misused word. I especially hate “mini-bubble” or “micro-bubble.” It’s a stupid construct - so - no.
Do you ever just get bored of it all? If not, what keeps you motivated?
Never. I love what I do. Every day is a blast. I do get tired and thankfully have a routine where I go away once a quarter with my wife for a week. We completely disconnect from everything - no phone, no email, no Internet. I’ve got a week like that coming up and I’m ready for it.
The greatest misconception about being a VC is…?
We are assholes who are trying to take advantage of entrepreneurs.
Website you must visit every day?
www.techmeme.com, www.newsgator.com, www.technorati.com
Last great book you read?
I read piles of books - many are listed on my blog at www.feld.com. On Bullshit - which I read a while ago - is a particularly sweet one.
Growing up, what did you want become professionally?
I don’t remember. I don’t think I ever really thought about it.
On your mp3 player, what are you listening to these days?
Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snowpatrol (in my attempt to be hipper than I am)
Is it the person/people or the idea? Why?
Both.